The Dark Tide

By: Andrew Gross

Narrated by: Melissa Leo

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

An explosion rips through New York City's Grand Central Station one morning, destroying the train Karen Friedman's husband, a successful hedge-fund manager, is riding in to work. Days later, with many bodies still unidentifiable, Karen resigns herself to the awful truth: her husband of 18 years is dead.

On that same day, a suspicious hit-and-run accident leaves a young man dead in Karen's hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut. Ty Hauck, a detective, becomes emotionally caught up in the case and finds a clue that shockingly connects the two seemingly unrelated events.

Months later, two men show up at Karen's home digging into Charles's business dealings. Hundreds of millions of dollars are missing - and the trail points squarely to Charles. With doubt suddenly cast on everything she has ever known, Karen, with Hauck, steps into a widening storm of hedge-fund losses, international scams, and murder. And as the investigations converge, these two strangers touched by tragedy are pulled into a deepening relationship and unwittingly open the door to a twisted - and deadly - conspiracy.

With its breakneck pacing, plentiful twists, compelling characters, and abundant heart, The Dark Tide confirms Andrew Gross' place as a master storyteller at the top of his game.

©2008 Andrew Gross (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"While the reader will occasionally see the next drop, tunnel or curve looming far ahead, the roller-coaster thrills are still there in abundance." ( Publishers Weekly)

The Dark Tide

This is unquestionably the worst audio book I have ever had the poor judgment to listen to all the way through. The plot is implausible, the dialog is stiff and phony and there are errors throughout. At the end of one chapter, the woman "doesn't notice the small plane circling overhead" and later "remembers the plane circling overhead". The villain drowning his victim laughs that the "jet stream" is warm this time of year, when it should be "gulf stream". The list goes on. Please save your credits.

Good idea - poorly written

I thought the plot of this book was great - it combined romance and intrigue and could have been developed into a great story. Unfortunately, the writing was shallow and amateurish. The dialogue was annoying. If you eliminated every unecessary time someone's name was spoken, the book could have been a chapter shorter. Additionally, we knew Karen wanted to know "why" Charlie did what he did after the 2nd or 3rd time she asked, The next 20 to 30 times she asked could have saved another chapter. While I might not look for another work from this author, I have to say that in spite of being annoyed by the writing style, the book kept me reasonably entertained.

Seriously? AWFUL!

Of all the audiobooks I have listened to in the past 5 years, this is only the
second book, that I will NOT be listening to for a second time. I have heard only
one female narrator that didn't hurt the piece, and that was on "The Historian."
I got this book because of the recommendation given by CNN host Glenn Beck. I don't
know if I can go off of his recommended list again. I almost didn't finish the book.
The novel itself is nothing more than a self indulgence of middle-aged angst of a
woman who loses her husband in a "terrorist attack" then struggles when evidence
arises that her husband may not have died. The messenger is **SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS**
a similar-aged (both emotionally and chronologically) Conn. detective. After the
first half of the book, the two may as well be 12 year olds hitting each other on
the playground, rather than speaking to one another. I haven't finished the book
yet, and it will be difficult to finish. It is unbelievable how much excessive
description is given on the most pointless things.
Lord have mercy, this was bad in so many ways...

Poorly written and repetitive

I struggled with the overall rating because the narrator was not bad, she just didn’t have much to work with. The plot of this book is so obvious that it seems like the author had a checklist of suspense/romance cliches and, believe me, he hit every one. I would never read another book by this author.

Karen, Karen, Karen, Ty, Ty, Ty

For the most part, the book was entertaining BUT the constant use of the main character's name in every sentence of dialog became tedious. No one talks like that! It became so distracting I couldn't finish the book.

The Dark Tide

One of the worst books I have listened to in quite some time - maybe ever - and one of the worst readers. The narrator is so consistently whiney it is laughable, and the author's vocabulary seems to be limited to "God Damn it Charlie"'" "Why, Charlie, why'" and "We were a family, Charlie." Add to that the fact that the story was weak and totally transparent and the result is a real loser.

wince...wince

I keep wincing as I listen to this book. The reader bothers me with her interpretation and acting skills. The book is so obvious that I smell the twists and turns before we arrive at the bend in the road.

Medicore

The book was mediocre at best. Plot was promising but not well executed. The portrayal of the main female character as a naive, whining, over emotional woman was weak. In most of the 100 plus chapters there was at least one scene about how "Charlie" wronged his wife and family- this was boring and repetitive, adding nothing to the flow of the book. Overall, a weak effort. I likely won't buy another book by Gross.

A really good listen

The character mix of Beautful-But-Wronged blonde and Tough Cop could be a recipe for a real ho-hum read. However, Andrew Gross has not only managed to create an old fashioned love story, but he has done it with sensitivity and elegance, whilst keeping the tension wire tight and the reader guessing. A fine thriller. Give me more!

very disappointing

The writing is immature, with repetitively mind numbing dialogue, and "love" scenes that seemed forced and ridiculous. The narration is an uninspired drone, punctuated with whines and overpronounced vowels. I would be very hesitant to ever listen/read anything by this author in the future, and I certainly won't be listening to this narrator again.